Image by Andre Taissin, from Unsplash
OnlyFans In $8 Billion Sale Talks
- Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
- Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager
OnlyFans, the adult content platform, is in talks to sell for $8 billion or go public amid massive growth and legal scrutiny.
In a rush? Here are the quick facts:
- Company revenue rose from $375M in 2020 to $6.6B in 2023.
- Owner Leonid Radvinsky earned $1B+ in dividends over three years.
- Platform faces scrutiny over abuse and nonconsensual content allegations.
OnlyFans, the adult content platform that became a household name during the COVID-19 pandemic, may soon be sold for a staggering $8 billion, as told in an exclusive report by Reuters .
Reuters received information from three anonymous sources that Fenix International Ltd. is conducting advanced negotiations with Forest Road Company’s Los Angeles-based investor group.
Reuters notes that Forest Road is no stranger to OnlyFans. Some of its executives were previously involved in efforts to take the platform public through a special purpose acquisition company in 2022. The ongoing discussions about this deal have been active since March and insiders predict a possible agreement will emerge in the coming weeks but no official confirmation exists.
Reuters reports that Fenix maintains talks with multiple potential acquirers while exploring the possibility of an initial public offering (IPO). OnlyFans and Forest Road declined to comment to Reuters..
The sole owner of Fenix is Leonid Radvinsky, a Ukrainian-American who acquired OnlyFans in 2018. Public records show he’s collected over $1 billion in dividends over the past three years.
Despite its financial success, OnlyFans has faced serious criticism. A Reuters investigation from 2023 discovered multiple U.S. police and court cases that connected the platform to child sexual abuse content and sex trafficking. The company’s reputation has led traditional banks and investors to exercise caution in their investment decisions.
Founded in 2017, Forest Road invests in media, renewable energy, and digital assets. In 2024, it expanded by acquiring a majority stake in ACF Investment Bank.
Whether a sale goes through or not, OnlyFans’ future is closely tied to its controversial business model and public scrutiny.
Image by AppsHunter.io, from Unsplash
Discord Privacy Concerns Grow After 2 Billion Messages Go Public
- Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
- Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager
Brazilian researchers scraped 2 billion public Discord messages for academic research, raising privacy concerns despite claims of ethical collection and anonymization.
In a rush? Here are the quick facts:
- Researchers scraped 2 billion Discord messages from 3,167 public servers.
- Data spans 2015–2024 and includes 4.7 million users.
- The database is now public, weighing over 118GB.
A Brazilian research team released a massive dataset of over 2 billion Discord messages which has sparked major privacy concerns despite their claims of ethical conduct., as first spotted by 404 Media .
The research team composed of 15 members from the Federal University of Minas Gerais obtained messages from 3,167 public Discord servers which represent 10% of all discoverable Discord communities through the platform’s public API.
The messages span nearly a decade, from 2015 to 2024, and were gathered as part of a study meant to help with mental health, political discourse, and AI chatbot research.
“Throughout every step of our data collection process, we prioritized adherence to ethical standards,” the researchers wrote . “All data was sourced from groups that are explicitly considered public according to Discord’s terms of use […] The data was anonymized.”
They say they removed usernames, changed user IDs, and took other steps to ensure privacy. The database is available online as a set of JSON files. Even a compressed sample is 6.2GB, while the full archive weighs in at 118GB.
However, despite these efforts, many Discord users are alarmed. 404 Media argues that users consider their Discord conversations private even though the servers exist in a public domain because the platform operates differently than Twitter or Reddit.
The research data collection method raises concerns because many users including teenagers remain unaware that their messages could be included in research datasets.
The scraping may also violate Discord’s own rules. Its Developer Policy clearly states: “Do not mine or scrape any data… through Discord services,” as noted by 404 Media.
This incident follows earlier scraping controversies, including Spy.pet, which collected data from private servers, as noted by 404 Media. But unlike that, the researchers insist they followed all API rules and scraped only public data.
